What Is Dental Scaling?
Your dentist may recommend a dental procedure called dental scaling if you have a stubborn case of gum disease, to keep it from getting worse. Dental scaling is a common non-surgical way to treat gum disease which removes plaque and tartar from your teeth and help your gums regain health.
To continue to keep your gums healthy, brush with an electric toothbrush like the Oral-B iO. It’s dentist-inspired round brush head and micro-vibrating bristles surround each tooth and clean along the gum line to better remove more of the plaque bacteria that can lead to gum disease. If you have severe periodontal disease and your condition may require gum surgery, your dentist and periodontist may recommend a scaling and root planing before the surgery, as well as a thorough teeth-cleaning prior to the procedure.
Is Dental Scaling Necessary?
Gum disease is caused by sticky, bacteria-filled plaque that builds along and just below the gum line. If your gums are significantly receded from your teeth, you may be more susceptible to gum disease and your dentist may prescribe scaling. Scaling is a non-surgical technique, however it differs from a regular dental cleaning in that it involves cleaning the portions of the tooth underneath the gum line.
Types of Dental Scaling Tools
There are two types of scaling instruments:
- Scaling with hand-held instruments. A dental scaler and curette will be used by your dentist or periodontist to physically remove plaque from your teeth. Because the dentist or dental hygienist can’t see the plaque, they have to rely on their sense of touch to detect tartar accumulation and rough patches.
- Scaling with ultrasonic instruments. Ultrasonic scaling equipment removes plaque from the teeth by vibrating a metal tip and spraying it with water to wash it away and keep the tip cool.
Does Dental Scaling Hurt?
Your dentist or dental hygienist will use local anaesthetic to numb the gums and tooth roots during the teeth scaling process, but teeth scaling and root planing are painless. Your dentist or dental hygienist will use specialised instruments to remove stubborn plaque deposits (tartar) from the teeth above and below the gum line. Root planing is the process of flattening rough patches on the teeth’s roots that might encourage gum disease by trapping and retaining germs.
The whole operation can be completed in a single visit, however a quadrant (1/4th of the mouth) or half of the mouth is usually advised each consultation. You might anticipate your gums to remain numb from the anaesthetic and potentially sore after a scaling and planing procedure. However, if you follow a consistent oral health regimen of twice-day teeth brushing and daily flossing, your gums should rapidly return to a firm, healthy, pink look.
Dental Scaling Procedure Watch Outs
Before undergoing a scaling and root planing operation, ensure that your dental expert is aware of your whole medical history. Because the treatment might introduce germs into the bloodstream, measures may be required to treat gum disease in persons who are at higher risk of infection, such as those with heart disease, liver disease, or a weak immune system due to an illness, such as HIV.
